A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi Chief Egwu Chima has urged former Senate President Adolphus Wabara to desist from making utterances capable of destablising the country.
Chima, a former chairman of Afikpo South local government, made the call on Thursday in Abakaliki.
The APC chieftain was reacting to an interview credited to Wabara that President Muhammadu Buhari was working on agenda to make Nigeria an Islamic state for the Fulani people.
Chima said such allegations are “an orchestrated plot to derail the present administration by desperate politicians”.
He described the comments as “unpatriotic”, adding that Wabara as a respected Igbo leader and politician should not indulge in utterances capable of escalating tensions in the polity.
He said that Nigeria president of Igbo extraction in 2023 was possible if Igbo leaders would come together, unite and maintain a common position.
He said that it was worrisome that Igbo people would begin to doubt possibility of any of their kinsmen emerging as president of Nigeria when the zone has qualified persons.
He urged the Igbo people not to despair but join hands with the government of Buhari to fast track development in the country.
“Among the things credited to Wabara in the press interview he granted recently was one which quoted him as saying that ‘the presidency of Nigeria will elude the Igbo in 2023’ and I start asking myself why should he make such a statement.
“Wabara permanently belongs to the leadership consulting group in this country, whether in power or out of power, having been a former president of the Senate.
“I am disappointed at the statement because people of his stature are not supposed to say that. They are the people who should stand and say this is the turn of the Igbo people.
“Therefore, for me and for people like me, Nigeria presidency of Igbo extraction in 2023 will come to pass and no statement or plan by any human being can stop it except God and God will not.”
Chima enjoined Igbo elite and politicians to begin to strategise early and reach out to other ethnic groups on the presidency project.
Wabara was reported on Monday in an online publication to have said that in few years Nigeria would be islamised.
According to him, “Fulanisation” of Nigeria is an agenda that must be accomplished and for this reason, the South-East should perish the hope of taking over from Buhari in 2023.
Wabara noted that Buhari would not hand over to anyone not continuing with the project of making Nigeria a full Muslim state, adding that the signs are already manifesting.
“I believe what is happening is an agenda, it’s just that some of us, we are media friendly, but we don’t have easy access to the media to cry out every of our thoughts,” he was quoted by the Sun in the interview. (NAN)
